James Comey’s Self-Justification Is Just ‘Not Good Enough’

Jonathan Freedland on Comey, Lawrence Wright on Trump and Texas, and Margaret Atwood on The Handmaid’s Tale.

April 26, 2018

Former FBI director James Comey is sworn in prior to testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, 2017. (Reuters / Jonathan Ernst)

James Comey’s monster best seller, A Higher Loyalty, is “a plea for exculpation,” says Jonathan Freedland, but its self-justifications are “not good enough.” Jonathan is a columnist for The Guardian and a best selling author.

Also: How long will Texas remain a red state? Lawrence Wright says demographic and political change is underway, and that Betto O’Rourke’s campaign for the Senate, challenging Ted Cruz, is a crucial one. Wright’s new book is God Bless Texas.

Plus: The Handmaid’s Tale, that feminist dystopian novel, is beginning its second season as a TV series on Hulu this week. Margaret Atwood talks about the significance of her novel in the age of Trump (recorded a year ago, just before the series’ premiere).

Comey regrets his remarks just before the 2016 election, which may or may not have allowed a Trump win in the Electoral college vote and is doing what he can to show up Trump as the con man that he has always been